Automobile hood lock



oct. 15,1940. BULAT 2,218,257

AUTOMOBILE HOOD LOCK ATTORN EYS Oct. l5, 1940. .Y L. BULAT AUTOMOBILE HOOD LOCK Filed March 2l, 1938 .2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR BY @Magg/mm@ ATTORN EYS ?atented Oct. 15, 1940 AU'roMorrn noon 1.00K

Lnban Bulat, Cleveland, Ohio Application March 21,

2 Claims.

This invention relates to automobile hood locks and it has for its principal object to provide a simple yet practical and efdcient internal locking means for the hood, operable from the instru- 5 ment board or other convenient location within the body of the vehicle whereby to be locked and unlocked, at will, when occasion requires, but effectively preventing unauthorized opening of the hood and tampering with the parts thereunder.

A further object is toprovide for positive actuation of the locking means andfor the simultaneous locking and unlocking of the hood at opposite sides thereof.

With the foregoing and other objects to be attained, as will hereinafter more fully appear, the invention consists in the vnovel latching means and manipulating mechanism in its general structure and in the particular parts and combinations and arrangements. of parts thereof, all as hereinafter specied and pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings illustrating a practical adaptation of the invention, and in which Figure 1 is a. ,horizontal longitudinal section through the hood and adjacent forward body portion of an automobile, showing the hood latching means and operating mechanism therefor applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a transverse section taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section;

Figure 4 is a detail plan view of the supporting bracket and cooperating gears mounted thereon;

Figure 5 is a side elevation of the latch bolt mounting detached and the hooked extension of the bolt engaged withv the locking bracket or keeper of the hood; i

Figure 6 is a horizontal section taken. on or about the line 6-6 of Figure 5; and

Figure '1 is a partial elevation and vertical section taken on or about the line 'l-'I of Figure 5.

Referring now to the drawings the numeral I designates the longitudinal side members of the chassis or supporting under-frame for the automobile body, the forward portion of which latter is shown and designated, at II, in Figures 1 and 3 of the drawings. At the front of the body I I is the usual transverse partition or dashboard I2, forwardly beyond which is the usual hood or housing I3 which encases the motor and its associated parts and the other appurtenances of /the vehicle usually located forward of the dashboard. As shown, the hood I3 comprises the two half 1938; Serial No. 197,255

(Cl. 2MB- 28) sections as commonly provided .on the ordinary automobile, said sections being hingedattheir meeting longitudinal top margins, as at I4. However, as far as the present invention is concerned., the hood may be of any other form and arrangement.

Instead of the latching means usually provided exteriorly of the hood, the present invention contemplates, in its broad aspect. the locating 'of the latching means interiorly of the hood, and in this connection, it is notedy that accessto the interior of the hood is practically impossible except by opening the hood, because of the provision of` the usual bottom closure pan I5 provided beneath the hood between the partition or l5 dashboard I2 andthe usual radiator assembly I6 located on the chassis frame at the front end of the hood, said pan I 5 being usually iianged, as at I5 and supported on the lower anges of the I longitudinal side members I Il of the chassis as 2o shown in Figure 2.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the latching means comprises a bracket' I'I located on the inner face of the hood side wall nearl the 25 lower edge thereof, said bracket I1 having an upturned flange I8 at its lower` end for the engagement o1' a hooked extension I9 on a swiveled latch bolt which is mounted in a tubular upright extension 2| of a bracket 22. 3o which latter is secured to'the upper ange of the adjacent sidemember I0 of the chassis. Said hooked extension I9 projects through a horizontal slot I9' in the tube 2| whereby said member I9 is permitted limited swinging movement but 35 the bolt 20 is held against endwise movement.

The engagement ofthe latch hook I9 with the iiange I8 ofthe bracket or keeper I.'| is eiected by rotation of the bolt 20, andto facilitate the engagement and release of the member I9 from 40 the flange I8, the latter is beveled on its inner face, near the top thereof and throughout its width as at 23, and the inner engaging portion of the hook I9 is correspondingly beveled, as at 24; P and to initially guide the hooked portion 24 onto the iiange I8, the latter is further tapered towards its end as at 25 and reduced at `its adjacent top portion, as at 26, so as to provide an easy lead for the hook I9. v

Attached to each bolt 20 is a iiexible shaft 21, said shafts being respectively provided at their opposite ends with coupling members 28, and each coupling .member being attached to the projecting spindle portion 29 of a beveled gear 30 of Journaled in a bracket member 3l attached to the dashboard i2.

As' shown, the bracket 3| is bolted to the dashboard, as at 32, and said bracket is provided with a pair of horizontal generally rectangular extensions 32 in which the gears 33 are iournaled, as at 33, in opposed relation to each other. saidv gears 33 are journaled, as at 33, in opposed relation to each other, said gears 30 being engaged by an intermediate driving gear 34 journaled in the base portion ofthe bracket 3l. lPreferably, a bearing bushing 35 is provided inthe bracket 30 for the shank portion 35 of said gear 34,. the bushing being fastened in the bracket 3l by a setscrew 31. Thus, by rotating the gear 34 the opposed engaged gears 33 are obviously rotated in opposite directions with respect to each other and the exible shafts 21 are accordingly rotated in opposite directions, thereby causing the latch bolts 23- to rotate also in opposite directions. Therefore, the flange portions I8 of the keeper brackets I1 at opposite sides of the hood I3 are disposed with their lead portions 25 in the same longitudinal direction, that is to say, the lead portions 25 of the flanges I8 may be located in the same direction either forwardly or rearwardly, so that, upon operation of the bolts 20 simultaneously, as occurs upon rotation of the gear 34 and the connecting shafts 21 and gears 30, the hook portions I9 of the two bolts 20 ride onto or from the iianges I8 simultaneously, according to the direction inwhich the gear 34 is rotated.

'.For convenience in rotating the gear 34, said gear is provided with an axial bore in its shank portion 36, in which the end portion of a controlling and manipulating shaft 38 is inserted and secured by a pair of set-screws 39, which latter are countersunk below the circumferential face of said shank portion 36, particularly the one of said set-screws which is located within the bushing 35.

By beveling the engaging portions 23 and 24 of the keeper bracket ange I8 andthe latch hook extension I9, and the further provision of the contiguous tapered and reduced lead portions 25 and 26, respectively, of said keeper ange- I8, not only is the member I9 guided onto and from the iiange I8, as hereinbefore described, but the parts I8 and I9 may be relatively positioned so that there is a tight engagement therebetween and asubstantial springing effect is created in the adjacent portions of the hood I3 so as to prevent rattling.

Preferably, a sheet metal casing 40 is placed on the supportingkbracket 3l as a protection for the gears 30 and 34.- l As shown, this casing 48 is in the form of a substantially rectangular box provided with slots 4I on its opposite side walls to clear the projecting spindle portions 29 of the gears 30 and the attached couplings 28 when the housing is applied, said housing being held in place on the extensions 32 of the supporting bracket 3| merely by the frictional engagement therewith or, if desired, any suitable fastening means may be provided.

Obviously, the structure admits of considerable modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims, the invention, therefore, is not What is claimed is: s l. In an automobile hood locking assembly oi the kind including keeper elements located inside the hood of the automobile on the opposite lower side wall portions of the hood and 'further including latching elementsv mounted on adjacent fixed parts of the automobile body frame and movable into and out of engagement with said keeper elements. said latching elements each having a rotatable actuating part, operating means for simultaneously moving the latching elements into and out of Aengagement with the keeper elements. said means comprising a supporting' bracket carrying thereon a pair of opposed miter gears and being fixedly mounted on a support at the frontv portion of the automobile body beneath the hood, flexible shafts connecting said miter gears and rotatable actuating parts of the latching elements respectively at the opposite sides of lthe hood, an interposed driving gear in working engagement with said pair of miter gears whereby to rotate the latter in opposite directions, and

. including latching-elements mounted on adjacent fixed parts of the automobile body frame and movable into and out of engagement with said keeper elements, said latching elements each having a rotatable actuating part, operating means for simultaneously moving the latching elements into and out of engagement with the keeper elements,- said means comprising a bifurcated bracket member located beneath the hood and.

mounted upon the transverse wall of the automobile body constituting the rear closure of the hood, miter gears journaled in the respective arms of the bifurcated bracket member in opposed relation to each other, said miter gears having spindle extensions connected by flexible shafts to the rotatable actuating vparts of said latching elements at opposite sides of the hood, a bearing bushing detachably secured in the base portion of said bifurcated bracket member axially coincident with a line midway between said miter gears and perpendicular to the axis of said gears, a driving gear in working engagement with said miter gears whereby to rotatethem in opposite directions and having a spindle extension journaled in said bearing bushing, said spindle extension having an axial bore, and a controlling and manipulating shaft inserted at one end in said axial bore of the spindle extension of the driving LUBAN BULAT. 

